Method and apparatus for managing battery pack

ABSTRACT

An apparatus for managing a battery pack for a vehicle includes a temperature measurement module for measuring temperature of the battery pack; a current measurement module for measuring a charge/discharge current of the battery pack when the measured temperature is not within a predetermined temperature range; a time measurement module for measuring the time while the measured charge/discharge current is over a predetermined current value; a storage module for accumulating and storing the measured time; and a control module for determining a state of the battery pack according to the accumulated and stored time and providing the state information to a user.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION

This application is a continuation of U.S. application Ser. No.13/088,571 filed on Apr. 18, 2011, which is a continuation ofInternational Application No. PCT/KR2010/008574 filed on Dec. 2, 2010,which claims priority to Korean Patent Application No. 10-2009-0134432filed in Republic of Korea on Dec. 30, 2009, the entire contents ofwhich are incorporated herein by reference.

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

The present invention relates to method and apparatus for managing abattery pack, and more particularly, to method and apparatus fordetecting a situation of ultimately severe temperature or high current,which may give an influence on the life or performance of the batterypack, and providing correct state information about the battery pack fora vehicle.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

As the demands for portable electronic products such as notebooks, videocameras and cellular phones are rapidly increased in these days, anddevelopment of electric vehicles, energy storage batteries, robots,satellites, etc. is under active progress, numerous studies are beingmade on high-performance secondary batteries capable of being repeatedlycharged and discharged.

Currently, nickel-cadmium batteries, nickel-hydrogen batteries,nickel-zinc batteries, lithium secondary batteries or the like arecommercially available as secondary batteries. Among them, lithiumsecondary batteries are the center of interest because they hardly havememory effects and can be freely charged or discharged when comparedwith nickel-based secondary batteries. Advantageously, lithium secondarybatteries also exhibit very low self-discharge and high energy density.

In particular, in these days, as carbon energies are gradually exhaustedand the interest on environments is increased, hybrid vehicles andelectric vehicles become the focus of the public attention not only inU.S.A., Europe, Japan, and Korea but also in all countries in the world.In such hybrid or electric vehicles, the most fundamental part is abattery that gives a driving force to a vehicle motor. Since the hybridor electric vehicle may obtain a driving force by means ofcharging/discharging of the battery, the hybrid or electric vehicle mayeliminate or reduce an exhausted pollutant while ensuring excellent fuelefficiency, and thus the hybrid or electric vehicle is used more andmore.

However, the vehicle battery used for such a hybrid or electric vehiclemay encounter severe circumstances frequently in the consideration thatit is mounted to a vehicle, differently from batteries used for generalportable electronic products. For example, in a case where a vehicleruns in a polar region or in a very cold winter, the battery should beoperated though the temperature is very low. In addition, in a casewhere a vehicle runs at the equator or in a very hot summer, the batteryshould be operated though the temperature is very high.

If a high current flows in the battery so as to transfer a high drivingforce to a vehicle in an ultimately severe temperature circumstance, thehigh current may give a bad influence on the life and performance of thebattery. In other words, the ultimately severe operation condition ofthe battery may shorten the life of the battery and weaken theperformance in comparison to normal operation conditions. Nevertheless,in the conventional art, though a battery is exposed to severe operationconditions, relevant data is not provided to a driver or a repair man.For this reason, a vehicle driver or the like could not properly checkthat the life and performance of a battery are deteriorated since thebattery is used in ultimately severe operation conditions. Thus, it isnot easy to check a suitable time for repair or exchange, which mayresult in even a breakdown or failure of the battery or a malfunction ofthe battery. If the battery stops its function, a user may experienceinconvenience since the vehicle cannot run. In addition, if the batterystops its function while the vehicle is running, a car accident mayoccur, which may seriously damage lives and properties. Moreover, sincethe operation history of the battery pack is not properly checked evenwhen the vehicle or the battery pack is repaired, it is not easy toexactly diagnose the state of the battery pack.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The present invention is designed to solve the problems of the priorart, and therefore, it is an aspect of the present invention to providemethod and apparatus for managing a battery pack, which may providestate information of the battery pack for a vehicle so that a suitabletime for repair or exchange about the battery pack for a vehicle may beinformed.

These and other aspects and advantages will be apparent from theembodiments of the present invention. And, the aspects and advantages ofthe invention may be realized by means of instrumentalities andcombinations particularly pointed out in the appended claims.

In order to accomplish the above object, the present invention providesan apparatus for managing a battery pack for a vehicle, which includes atemperature measurement module for measuring temperature of the batterypack; a current measurement module for measuring a charge/dischargecurrent of the battery pack when the measured temperature is not withina predetermined temperature range; a time measurement module formeasuring the time while the measured charge/discharge current is over apredetermined current value; a storage module for accumulating andstoring the measured time; and a control module for determining a stateof the battery pack according to the accumulated and stored time andproviding the state information to a user.

In addition, in order to accomplish the above object, the presentinvention provides a battery pack including the above battery packmanaging apparatus.

Also, in order to accomplish the above object, the present inventionprovides a vehicle including the above battery pack managing apparatus.

In addition, in order to accomplish the above object, the presentinvention provides a method for managing a battery pack, which includes(S1) measuring temperature of the battery pack; (S2) measuring acharge/discharge current of the battery pack when the measuredtemperature is not within a predetermined temperature range; (S3)measuring the time while the measured charge/discharge current is over apredetermined current value; (S4) accumulating and storing the measuredtime; and (S5) determining a state of the battery according to theaccumulated and stored time and providing the state to a user.

According to the present invention, histories of a battery pack for avehicle, which was used in ultimately severe operation conditions, maybe clearly checked, and relevant information may be stored. Theinformation may be used as data for clearly checking a factordeteriorating the life and performance of the battery pack for avehicle. For example, the data may be referred to when checking a stateof the battery pack, such as SOH (State Of Health).

Thus, the state information of the battery pack for a vehicle may beexactly and properly provided to a driver or a vehicle repair man. Sincethe driver may predict a suitable time for repairing or exchanging thebattery pack for a vehicle in advance, it is possible to prevent anyunnecessary exchange or repair of the battery pack or any accident orunintended stop of the vehicle, caused by the malfunction of the batterypack. In addition, since the driver may know that the battery is used inan ultimately severe operation condition, the driver may try not to runthe vehicle in a condition harmful for the life and performance of thebattery pack if possible.

In addition, since a vehicle repair man may clearly check the situationinforming that the battery pack was operated in a bad condition, thebattery pack may be exactly diagnosed and repaired when the vehicle isunder the maintenance service.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a block diagram schematically showing a functionalconfiguration of an apparatus for managing a battery pack according toone embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 shows a connection configuration of the apparatus for managing abattery pack according to one embodiment of the present invention, whichis on a charging/discharging path of the battery pack.

FIG. 3 shows one example of a table illustrating state information ofthe battery pack, which is provided to a user by a control module pereach warning point endowed in accordance with an accumulated time.

FIG. 4 is a flowchart schematically illustrating a method for managing abattery pack according to one embodiment of the present invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

Hereinafter, preferred embodiments of the present invention will bedescribed in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings. Priorto the description, it should be understood that the terms used in thespecification and the appended claims should not be construed as limitedto general and dictionary meanings, but interpreted based on themeanings and concepts corresponding to technical aspects of the presentinvention on the basis of the principle that the inventor is allowed todefine terms appropriately for the best explanation.

Therefore, the description proposed herein is just a preferable examplefor the purpose of illustrations only, not intended to limit the scopeof the invention, so it should be understood that other equivalents andmodifications could be made thereto without departing from the spiritand scope of the invention.

FIG. 1 is a block diagram schematically showing a functionalconfiguration of an apparatus 100 for managing a battery pack accordingto one embodiment of the present invention, and FIG. 2 shows aconnection configuration of the apparatus 100 for managing a batterypack, which is on a charging/discharging path of the battery pack.

Referring to FIGS. 1 and 2, the battery pack managing apparatus 100according to the present invention includes a temperature measurementmodule 110, a current measurement module 120, a time measurement module130, a storage module 140, and a control module 150.

The temperature measurement module 110 measures temperature of a batterypack. Preferably, the temperature measurement module 110 may be realizedwith a thermo coupler. However, the present invention is not limited toa specific form of the temperature measurement module 110, and variouskinds of temperature measurement modules 110 known in the art may beselected.

Preferably, the temperature measurement module 110 includes an interiortemperature measurement module and an exterior temperature measurementmodule, so that both interior and exterior temperatures of the batterypack may be measured. In this case, the exterior temperature and theinterior temperature of the battery pack may be considered together, sothat surrounding temperature may be checked in detail as conditions atwhich the battery pack is operated.

The current measurement module 120 measures a charge/discharge currentof the battery pack, when the measured temperature is not within apredetermined temperature range. In other words, if the temperature ofthe battery pack, measured by the temperature measurement module 110, ishigher or lower than a criterion temperature range, the currentmeasurement module 120 initiates to measure the charge/discharge currentof the battery pack. At this time, the temperature range that is used asa basis for determining whether the current measurement module 120initiates to measure the charge/discharge current of the battery packmay be stored in a storage device, such as the storage module 140, inadvance.

The current measurement module 120 may be realized in various types. Forexample, the current measurement module 120 may measure a current bydetecting a voltage applied to a sense resistor installed on acharging/discharging path. In other cases, various kinds of currentmeasurement modules 120 known in the art may be used, and the presentinvention is not limited to any specific example of the currentmeasurement module 120.

Meanwhile, in a case where the temperature measurement module 110measures both interior and exterior temperatures, the currentmeasurement module 120 considers both of the measured interior andexterior temperatures in order to determine whether or not to measure acurrent. For example, the current measurement module 120 may initiate tomeasure a current when the interior temperature of the battery packmeasured by the temperature measurement module 110 is 60° C. or aboveand the exterior temperature is higher than the interior temperature.

When the charge/discharge current of the battery pack measured by thecurrent measurement module 120 is over a predetermined current value,the time measurement module 130 measures the time during which thecharge/discharge current is over the predetermined current value. Inother words, in a state that the temperature is very high or very low,the time measurement module 130 measures the time during which a highcurrent flows in the battery pack.

For example, the time measurement module 130 may measure the time duringwhich the charge/discharge current measured by the current measurementmodule 120 is 10 C or above. Here, the unit “C” means a basic currentamount of a general battery cell 200, and 10 C means 10 times of a basiccurrent amount of a general battery cell 200. The condition based onwhich the time measurement module 130 initiates time measurement, inother words a predetermined current value that is a basis fordetermining high current, may be stored in a storage device, such as thestorage module 140, in advance.

The time measurement module 130 may measures the time during which ahigh current over a predetermined value flows in the battery pack, in apredetermined time unit, for example 10 ms. In this case, the timeduring which a high current flows may be measured precisely.

However, the predetermined current value and the time measurement unit,mentioned above, are just examples, and it is obvious to those ofordinary skill in the art that the present invention is not limited tosuch numerals.

The storage module 140 accumulates and stores the time measured by thetime measurement module 130. In other words, the storage module 140accumulates and stores how long the high current flows in the batterypack in an extremely severe temperature condition.

For example, in a case where the battery pack has a temperature of 60°C. and the charge/discharge current is 10 C or above, if a currentsatisfying this condition is measured initially for 2 seconds, then for5 seconds, and then for 4 seconds, the storage module 140 may store 11seconds in total as the measurement time. At this time, the storagemodule 140 may also store individual measurement times, in addition tothe accumulated measurement time.

In addition, the storage module 140 may store data or program requiredfor executing functions of the temperature measurement module 110, thecurrent measurement module 120, the time measurement module 130, and thecontrol module 150. For example, the storage module 140 may store thepredetermined temperature range that is a condition for determiningwhether the current measurement module 120 measures a current, and thepredetermined current value that is a basis for determining whether thetime measurement module 130 measures time.

The storage module 140 may include a volatile memory such as RAM or anon-volatile memory such as a hard disk. In particular, the accumulatedvalue of time measured by the time measurement module 130 may be storedin a non-volatile memory. In this case, a driver or a repair man mayeasily check histories of the battery pack according to the accumulatedvalue stored in the non-volatile memory and refer to the histories asdata for the repairing work.

The control module 150 determines a state of the battery pack inaccordance with the time accumulated and stored in the storage module140, and provides the determined state information to a user. Forexample, the control module 150 may provide the state information of thebattery pack to the user when the accumulated and stored time duringwhich a high current flows in the battery pack in an extremely severetemperature condition reaches a predetermined time.

Here, the state information means information provided for informing auser that the battery pack is used in operation conditions by which abad influence may be given to the performance or life of the batterypack. For example, the control module 150 may send to a user a messageinforming that caution is required when running the vehicle or thebattery pack should be examined since the battery pack is used over apredetermined time in a situation harmful for the battery pack. Inaddition, the control module 150 may send a message informing that thebattery pack should be exchanged.

Here, the method for providing the state information to a user may beexecuted in various ways. For example, a warning may be given to a userby turning on a warning lamp with a green or red color or by generatingan alarm. In other case, a message may be sent with a text through adisplay such as an LCD provided at the driver's seat. For this purpose,the control module 150 may be connected to a warning lamp, an alarmgenerator, a display, and so on through an interface.

In order to determine the time at which the control module 150 providesthe state information of the battery pack to a user, various methods maybe used.

Preferably, the control module 150 may endow a warning point per apredetermined accumulated time. For example, the control module 150 mayendow 1 point as a warning point when the time accumulated and stored inthe storage module 140 due to the flow of a high current reaches every 5seconds. After that, the control module 150 may provide the stateinformation of the battery pack in stages in accordance with the endowedwarning points. However, the term ‘warning point’ used herein is justone example, which means a score endowed according to the time, andvarious terms may be used instead.

FIG. 3 shows one example of a table illustrating state information ofthe battery pack, which is provided to a user by the control module 150per each warning point endowed in accordance with the accumulated time.

Referring to FIG. 3, when the endowed warning point reaches 3 points,the control module 150 may give a first warning and determines thesituation as a warning level 1. At this time, the control module 150 maygive a warning to a user in various ways. For example, the controlmodule 150 may gives a first warning to the user by turning on a greenlamp. This first warning may be interpreted in a way that caution isrequired when using the battery pack, and the meaning of the firstwarning as above may be informed in advance to a user by means of avehicle manual or the like. In other case, the meaning may betransferred by means of text or picture through a vehicle display or thelike.

Then, if the warning point reaches 5 points, the control module 150gives a second warning to the user. Even at this time, the controlmodule 150 may give the second warning to the user by turning on a lamp.However, a lamp different from that of the first warning, for example ared lamp may be used so that the user may exactly recognize the secondwarning. The second warning corresponds to the information informingthat the situation is more serious than the first warning, for examplerequiring the battery pack to be examined. The meaning of the secondwarning as above may also be informed in advance to the user by means ofa vehicle display, a vehicle manual, or the like.

After that, if the warning point is accumulated to 10 points, thecontrol module 150 may gives a third warning to the user and determinesthat the situation is in a warning level 2. This third warning may betransferred to the user as a meaning informing that the battery is usedup or deteriorated and thus should not be used any more. Also, if thesituation comes to the warning level 2, this state information is storedin the storage module 140 such as a non-volatile memory so that avehicle repair man will refer to the information.

Meanwhile, the point classification and the state information based oneach warning points, shown in FIG. 3, are just one embodiment, and it isobvious to those having ordinary skill in the art that they may beimplemented in various ways.

In a case where the warning points are endowed as in the aboveembodiment, the control module 150 may interrupt a charging/dischargingpath of the battery if the endowed warning point reaches a predeterminedpoint. For example, if the warning point reaches 10 points and thus itis determined that the situation comes to the warning level 2 in theabove embodiment shown in FIG. 3, the control module 150 may interruptthe charging/discharging path of the battery pack so that the batterypack cannot be used any more. In this case, since the battery pack isused in an ultimately severe condition for a long time, the battery packmay be entirely broken or stop its function to cause a car accident ifthe battery pack is used more. Thus, the use of the battery pack islimited to prevent any car accident in advance. However, at this time,the fact that the charging/discharging path will be interrupted may beinformed to the user in advance so that the user may cope with theinterruption of the battery pack.

More preferably, in a case where the control module 150 interrupts thecharging/discharging path of the battery pack, the number ofinterruptions may be accumulated and stored in the storage module 140.For example, whenever the charging/discharging path of the battery packis interrupted as the warning point reaches 10 points in the embodimentof FIG. 3, the number of interruptions may be stored in the storagemodule 140. Thus, from the number of interruptions stored in the storagemodule 140, the history about the fact that the battery pack is used inan ultimately severe condition may be referred to by a driver or arepair man so that the driver or the repair man may easily check theperformance or life of the battery pack. Preferably, the number ofinterruptions may be used for calculating SOH (State Of Health) by meansof a predetermined conversion formula. Meanwhile, the number ofinterruptions is preferably not able to being distorted but stored in anon-volatile memory.

In addition, in the embodiment of FIG. 3, the warning point may beendowed up to 10 points, and if the warning point becomes 10 points andthus the charging/discharging path of the battery pack is interrupted,the warning point may be initialized to 0 point. It is because thewarning points accumulated before the initialization can be sufficientlyconsidered through the number of interruptions to thecharging/discharging path of the battery pack. However, it is alsopossible to continuously endow warning points to 11, 12, or the like,without initializing the warning point.

Meanwhile, the control module 150 may interrupt the charging/dischargingpath by melting and cutting a fuse 300 installed on thecharging/discharging path of the battery pack as shown in FIG. 2, butthe present invention is not limited only to the interruption manner.

The battery pack according to the present invention may include thebattery pack managing apparatus as described above. Also, a vehicle,particularly an electric vehicle according to the present invention mayinclude the battery pack managing apparatus as described above.

FIG. 4 is a flowchart schematically illustrating a method for managing abattery pack according to one embodiment of the present invention.

Referring to FIG. 4, first, the temperature measurement module 110measures temperature of a battery pack and outputs the measuredtemperature data to the control module 150 (S110). Here, it is desirableto measure both interior and exterior temperatures of the battery pack.Then, if the measured temperature is not within a predeterminedtemperature range, the control module 150 controls the currentmeasurement module 120 to measure a charge/discharge current of thebattery pack (S120). At this time, in a case where the interior andexterior temperatures of the battery pack are measured together asmentioned above, the charge/discharge current may be measured when themeasured interior temperature is 60° C. or above and the exteriortemperature is higher than the interior temperature.

Then, if the measured charge/discharge current is a high current over apredetermined current value, the control module 150 controls the timemeasurement module 130 to measure the time during which the high currentflows (S130). At this time, the predetermined current value, in otherwords a criterion value based on which the high current is determined,may be 10 C. After that, the control module 150 accumulates and storesthe time measured in the step S130 (S140), and then determines the stateof the battery pack in accordance with the accumulated and stored timeand provides the state information (S150). Here, in the step S150, awarning point may be endowed per a predetermined accumulated time, andthe state information of the battery pack may be provided in stages inaccordance with the endowed warning point. More preferably, there may beprovided a further step of interrupting a charging/discharging path ofthe battery pack, when the endowed warning point reaches a predeterminedvalue in the step S150. At this time, the number of interruptions of thecharging/discharging path may be accumulated and stored. Meanwhile, inthe step S150, the state information of the battery pack may be providedto a user by means of a warning lamp, an alarm generator, a display, orthe like.

The present invention has been described in detail. However, it shouldbe understood that the detailed description and specific examples, whileindicating preferred embodiments of the invention, are given by way ofillustration only, since various changes and modifications within thespirit and scope of the invention will become apparent to those skilledin the art from this detailed description.

Meanwhile, in this specification, the term ‘module’ is used, but it isobvious to those having ordinary skill in the art that the term ‘module’just represents a logic unit, which may not be a component that can bephysically separated.

What is claimed is:
 1. A battery pack comprising an apparatus formanaging the battery pack, wherein the apparatus comprises: atemperature measurement module for measuring temperature of the batterypack; a current measurement module for measuring a charge/dischargecurrent of the battery pack when the measured temperature is not withina predetermined temperature range; a time measurement module formeasuring the time while the measured charge/discharge current is over apredetermined current value; a storage module for accumulating andstoring the measured time; and a control module for determining a stateof the battery pack according to the accumulated and stored time andproviding the state information to a user.
 2. The battery pack of claim1, wherein the apparatus comprises temperature measurement modulemeasures both interior and exterior temperatures of the battery pack. 3.The battery pack of claim 2, wherein the current measurement modulemeasures a charge/discharge current of the battery pack when themeasured interior temperature of the battery pack is over apredetermined criterion temperature and the measured exteriortemperature is higher than the measured interior temperature.
 4. Thebattery pack of claim 1, wherein the control module endows a warningpoint per a predetermined accumulated time and provides stateinformation of the battery pack in stages in accordance with the endowedwarning point.
 5. The battery pack of claim 4, wherein the controlmodule interrupts a charging/discharging path of the battery pack whenthe endowed warning point reaches a predetermined level.
 6. The batterypack of claim 5, wherein the control module accumulates the number ofinterruptions when interrupting the charging/discharging path, andstores the number of interruptions in the storage module.
 7. The batterypack of claim 1, wherein the control module provides state informationof the battery pack to a user by means of a warning lamp, an alarmgenerator, or a display.
 8. A vehicle comprising an apparatus formanaging a battery pack wherein the apparatus comprises: a temperaturemeasurement module for measuring temperature of the battery pack; acurrent measurement module for measuring a charge/discharge current ofthe battery pack when the measured temperature is not within apredetermined temperature range; a time measurement module for measuringthe time while the measured charge/discharge current is over apredetermined current value; a storage module for accumulating andstoring the measured time; and a control module for determining a stateof the battery pack according to the accumulated and stored time andproviding the state information to a user.
 9. The vehicle of claim 8,wherein the temperature measurement module measures both interior andexterior temperatures of the battery pack.
 10. The vehicle of claim 9,wherein the current measurement module measures a charge/dischargecurrent of the battery pack when the measured interior temperature ofthe battery pack is over a predetermined criterion temperature and themeasured exterior temperature is higher than the measured interiortemperature.
 11. The vehicle of claim 8, wherein the control moduleendows a warning point per a predetermined accumulated time and providesstate information of the battery pack in stages in accordance with theendowed warning point.
 12. The vehicle of claim 11, wherein the controlmodule interrupts a charging/discharging path of the battery pack whenthe endowed warning point reaches a predetermined level.
 13. The vehicleof claim 12, wherein the control module accumulates the number ofinterruptions when interrupting the charging/discharging path, andstores the number of interruptions in the storage module.
 14. Thevehicle of claim 8, wherein the control module provides stateinformation of the battery pack to a user by means of a warning lamp, analarm generator, or a display.